Nail polish stirrer



June 20, 1967 w. B. STURRUP 3,326,533

NAIL POLISH STIRRER Filed Oct. 22, 1965 INVENTOR. WILLIS B. STURRUP A to nez United States Patent 3,326,533 NAIL POLISH STIRRER Willis Bertram Stnrrup, 7 Bowman Ave, Barrie, Ontario, Canada Filed Oct. 22, 1965, Ser. No. 590,593 Claims. (Cl. 259--144) IikThis invention relates to a nail polish stirrer or the One of the problems encountered with nail polish normally sold in small bottles is that the pigments in the polish quite rapidly settle out and collect on the bottom of the bottle, and it is extremely difficult to mix back into the polish by shaking. Frequently, resort is had to a small stick with an effort to elfect mixing but due to the small diameter neck of the bottle the size of a stick which can be introduced and maneuvered in an effort to reach the corners of the normally rectilinear bottle affords relatively meager stirring and quite inadequate mixing of the pigments. Alternatively, small steel balls have frequently been included in the bottles to attempt to solve the problem of pigment deposit but again only relatively poor mixing can be achieved on shaking.

The object of this invention is to provide a stirrer for nail polish or the like which can be easily inserted through the neck opening of the bottle, yet will enable the manipulator to contact and thoroughly stir the pigments or other deposits at all points on the bottom of even a rectilinear bottle to secure uniform colour dispersion throughout the polish.

Another important object is to provide a stirrer as aforesaid which will be of extremely simple and inexpensive construction. 7

Still another important object is to provide a stirrer as aforesaid which can be easily handled without the fingers becoming stained or dressing tables or other surfaces or objects becoming marred.

According to the invention the stirrer comprises a handle portion and a resiliently collapsible blade portion which can be collapsed to a dimension, in a direction laterally of the handle capable of being inserted through the neck of a nail polish bottle and which will resiliently recover after insertion to present at least two blades ex tending laterally of the handle.

Preferably the blade portion when collapsed for inser tion through the neck opening presents a generally pointed configuration to facilitate entry. Also, according to the preferred form of the invention, the handle is provided with a slidable operator adapted to effect collapse of the blade portion without the fingers touching the blades and possibly becoming stained. In this connection, it is also convenient to use the blade operator as a means of resting the stirrer on a surface with the blades out of contact therewith.

These and other objects and features will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a stirrer embodyin g the invention.

FIGURE 2 is an elevation view showing the blade portion collapsed and about to be introduced into a nail polish bottle.

FIGURE 3 is an elevational view showing the stirrer introduced into the bottle and the resilient blade portion recovered ready for stirring.

FIGURES 4, 5 and 6 are part broken away perspective views of alternative forms of stirring blade formations.

With reference to FIGURE 1 illustrating the preferred embodiment of the invention it will be seen that the stirrer comprises an elongated handle 1 having a forked lower end generally designated at 2 comprised by a pair of Patented June 20, 1967 blades 3 which diverge laterally outwardly of the handle axis from their common base 4 which is joined to the lower end of the handle and preferably defines a reduced throat 5 for a purpose which will hereinafter appear.

The blades 3 are illustrated as of generally rectangular section and have relatively broad faces 6 while being relatively thin perpendicular to the faces 6. The blades are so arranged that theirbroad faces 6 lie essentially in the same plane and preferably their opposing inner edges 7 are straight while their outer edges 8 are curved to provide an increasing width to the broad faces 6 in moving from the base of the blades 4 to the ends 9.

The blades 3 are formed of a suitable resilient material such as polyethylene, polyvinyl, nylon or other equivalent material which will afford suflicient stiffness to the blades so that they will hold their normal spread position illustrated in FIGURE 1 but can be displaced under pressure to the closed or gathered position shown in FIGURE 2 without rupture and without permanent deformation or loss of resiliency. It will be understood that the blades will recover to their normal position of FIGURE 1 when the blade closing or gathering force is released and will have sufiicient stiffness in the spread position of FIGURE 3 for example so that a twisting action on the handle 1 Will be translated to a turning action on the blades against the resistive forces of the collected colour deposits without undue distortion of the blades out of their normal coplanar relation of FIGURE 1.

It will be appreciated that the handle 1 and the blades 3 may be formed as separate components with the handle having a requirement only that it be relatively stiif. Preferably, of course, the handle 1 and blades 3 may be formed as a single unit with the circular cross section of the handle when formed of such materials as polyethylene and the like providing requisite rigidity.

Sleeved on the handle 1 is a collar 10 which again may be of similar material to the blades 3 or handle 1. This collar 10 has an opening 11 therein which snugly fits the handle 1 enabling the collar to be moved down the handle over the throat 5 and down the blades 3. The reduced throat 5 and the curved formation of the edges 8 enable the collar 10 to be advanced downwardly along the blades displacing them progressively inwardly by virtue of what amounts to a camming action until the blades are gathered to the closed position of FIGURE 2, the straight edges 7 allowing the blades to contact to form in effect a single flat coplanar blade formation forming an extension of the handle 1. Preferably the ends 9 of the blades are shaped so that in the gathered or closed position of FIGURE 2 they present a pointed formation 12 to facilitate entry of the blades through the reduced neck 13 of a bottle 14 illustrated as a typical nail polish bottle which is generally a rectangular cross section.

Preferably the handle 1 is provided with an enlargement 15 at its upper end defining a stop shoulder 16 to limit upward movement of the collar 10. This enlargement 15 may be formed as an integral part of the handle or may be provided by a fixed sleeve applied to the upper end of the handle.

As illustrated in FIGURE 2 the blades 3, themselves, form a stop preventing removal of the collar over their ends since their maximum dimension at the ends 9, when gathered to their coplanar position of FIGURE 2, is greater than the diameter of the collar opening 11. However, it will be understood that the blades 3 are sufiiciently flexible that they can be displaced out of their coplanar position of FIGURE 2 and forced together to overlap so that the collar 10 may be removed from or applied to the stirrer over the lower ends of the blades.

In operation the person wishing to stir the bottle contents slides the collar downwardly to close the blades 3 to the position of FIGURE 2 at which time the blades can be inserted through the neck of the bottle 14 and as they are inserted through and the collar retracts back up the handle the blades resiliently recover to the position of FIGURE 1. If the handle is forced inwardly sufliciently to cause the blades 3 to contact the bottom of the bottle they will be spread outwardly beyond the normal position of FIGURE 1 to the position of FIGURE 3 to reach to the corners of the bottle and the operator can stir the'deposits at the bottom of the bottle including out to the corners by turning the handle 1 which will cause the blades 3 to move as stirring paddles with their broad faces 6 perpendicular to the direction of turn.

At this time the stirrer may be withdrawn by simply pulling the blades upwardly through the neck opening and the stirrer may be deposited to rest on its collar 10. The collar thus forms a means of closing the blades 3 without contacting the colour coated blades with the fingers as well as providing a rest for the stirrer with the blades standing free and clear of contact with the surface on which the stirrer is deposited.

Moreover, the collar also serves as a wiper so that as the stirrer is withdrawn from the bottle, excess colour clinging to the lower portion of the handle and blades may be stripped therefrom and redeposited in the bottle.

After use the residue nail polish on the polyethylene blades, for example, can simply be peeled off as though it was a skin, since it will not bond with such material.

It will be appreciated that the actual configuration of the blades 3 may widely vary. For example, in FIGURE 4 a stirrer is shown comprising a handle 17 having a pair of generally flat coplanar blades 18 which diverge outwardly from their juncture with their handle to their lower ends which are defined by inwardly turned teeth 19'. Again the blades are shown as generally flat coplanar blades. FIGURE illustrates a stirrer in which the blades 20 carried by the handle 21 are arcuate so they present a convex concave formation providing a scooping effect in the stir-ring action. FIGURE 6 shows a stirrer generally similar to FIGURE 5 but presenting four blades of scooped shape indicated at 22.

It will be understood that a wide variation in the actual details of the structure may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A stirrer for nail polish or the like comprising:

(a) an elongated handle portion (b) a resilient blade formation carried by said handle portion and resiliently collapsible in .a direction generally transversely of the handle length from a normal spread formation diverging outwardly from the handle axis to a gathered formation forming essentially an extension of the handle for insertion through a neck opening in a bottle, said blade formation being adapted to resiliently recover to said spread formation from said gathered formation (c) means for collapsing said blade formation from said spread formation to said gathered formation comprising a slide sleeved on said handle and adapted to slidably engage over at least the portion of said blade formation next adjacent to said handle to efliect said blade collapse.

2. A stirrer for nail polish or the like comprising an elongated handle portion and a forked stirring portion carried at the lower end of said handle portion, said forked stirring portion comprising a pair of resilient blades extending downwardly from and diverging outwardly of a common juncture portion centered on the axis of the handle to a spread position, said blades being flat and lying in a common plane, said blades being displaceable under force in their common plane inwardly towards each other to a closed position forming essentially an extension of said handle, and being adapted to resiliently recover to said spread position upon release of a closing force, and

a ring snugly and slidably mounted on said handle and 7 slidable over said common juncture for applying and removing a closing force on said blades and for stripping any excess material picked up by the lower end of said handle and said blades.

3. A stirrer as claimed in claim 2 in which said blades have an increasing dimension towards their free 'ends as measured in said common plane and form a stop limiting downward movement of said ring.

4. A stirrer as claimed in claim 3 in which stop is provided on said handle to limit upward movement of said ring.

5. A stirrer as claimed in claim 2 in which said blades when in said closed position jointly present a pointed free end.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 415,625 11/1889' Erwin 259-144 X 420,262 1/1890 Boemermann 25940 X 3,115,664 12/1963 Del Ponte 155l0 3,204,283 9/1965 Damron 259-l18 X 3,209,387 10/1965 Lukesch 259108 X FOREIGN PATENTS 600,251 11/ 1925 Italy. 169,679 -8/ 1934 Switzerland.

WILLIAM 1. PRICE, Primary Examiner. 

1. A STIRRER FOR NAIL POLISH OR THE LIKE COMPRISING: (A) AN ELONGATED HANDLE PORTION (B) A RESILIENT BLADE FORMATION CARRIED BY SAID HANDLE PORTION AND RESILIENTY COLLAPSIBLE IN A DIRECTION GENERALLY TRANSVERSELY OF THE HANDLE LENGTH FROM A NORMAL SPREAD FORMATION DIVERGING OUTWARDLY FROM THE HANDLE AXIS TO A GATHERED FORMATION FORMING ESSENTIALLY AN EXTENSION OF THE HANDLE FOR INSERTION THROUGH A NECK OPENING IN A BOTTLE, SAID BLADE FORMATION BEING ADAPTED TO RESILIENTLY RECOVER TO SAID SPREAD FORMATION FROM SAID GATHERED FORMATION (C) MEANS FOR COLLAPSING SAID BLADE FORMATION FROM SAID SPREAD FORMATION TO SAID GATHERED FORMATION COMPRISING A SLIDE SLEEVED ON SAID HANDLE AND ADAPTED TO SLIDABLY ENGAGE OVER AT LEAST THE PORTION OF SAID BLADE FORMATION NEXT ADJACENT TO SAID HANDLE TO EFFECT SAID BLADE COLLAPSE. 